Clinton: Libya attack 'should shock the conscience' of people around the world

By JENNIFER EPSTEIN

09/12/2012 10:27 AM EDT

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday condemned the killing of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, but vowed that the U.S. relationship with the new government there would not be “another casualty” of the incident.

The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi “should shock the conscience of people of all faiths around the world,” Clinton said at the State Department, just ahead of President Obama’s scheduled Rose Garden statement.

The Americans, including Christopher Stevens, 52, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, were killed as they tried to evacuate staff from the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi amid protests from militants said to be upset by an anti-Islam video posted on the internet.

Stevens “risked his life to stop a tyrant and gave his life trying to help build a better Libya,” Clinton said.

The video, which Clinton described as “inflammatory,” did not justify the attack, she said. “Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith, and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace.”

Though “there is no higher priority than protecting our men and women wherever they serve,” Clinton said, the attack doesn’t change the Obama administration’s view that “a free and stable Libya is still in America’s interest and security.”

“The friendship between our countries born out of shared struggle will not be another casualty of this attack,” she said. The United States played a key role in the revolutionary effort that forced longtime leader Muammar Qadhafi out of power and ultimately led to his death nearly a year ago.

Clinton said she has spoken to Mohammed el-Megarif, Libya’s interim president, who apologized for the incident. The United States and Libya, she added, will work together to find the “small and savage” group of militants who perpetrated the attack.